http://en.belaruselections.info/ Special project by BelaPAN ru Copyright 2001-2006 BelaPAN Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:06:23 +0200 SS 3.0 php script admin@elections.by admin@elections.by http://en.belaruselections.info/webroot/delivery/pic/logo.gif http://en.belaruselections.info/ The ODIHR also issued more than 50 recommendations that the country needs to implement to meet the standards.
The recommendations cover the legal framework, voting regulations, the registration of candidates and voters, campaigning and its funding, media, complaints and appeals, vote counting, the tabulation of election results and election observation.
The ODIHR says that "a commensurate level of political will" is needed for the implementation of the recommendations.
In its report, the ODIHR says that the presidential campaign was marred by arbitrary use of state power, the harassment of campaign activists and biased media coverage.
"State power was employed arbitrary against opposition candidates, thwarting their campaign efforts. Throughout the campaign, opposition campaign workers were routinely harassed, detained and arrested," the report says. "Civil and political rights guaranteed by the Constitution were disregarded... Belarusian broadcast media granted incumbent President Lukashenko extensive and favourable coverage. Other candidates received an extremely narrow coverage of their views."
The ODIHR says that the country's Electoral Code restricts candidates' ability to campaign effectively and voters' ability to freely receive information. It says the procedure of early voting lacked necessary transparency.
Nikolai Lozovik, secretary of the central election commission, slammed the report as politically motivated and said that it cannot serve as a ground for canceling the election results. "All sanctions stemming from the report have already been imposed," he said.
The official went on to say that one should rather accuse the ODIHR of "falsifying" the observation results rather than election officials of fraud.
He criticized the ODIHR for its refusal to show the report to the central election commission before its publication. "We learn about the adoption of the document from the media as usual," he said. "The ODIHR is a more closed institution than the CIA and the KGB combined."
He said that there were a number of "inaccuracies" in the ODIHR's preliminary conclusions, noting that the central election commission did not "even" know whether or not the inaccuracies had been removed from the final report.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039726/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039726/ BelaPAN Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:49:18 +0300 Speaking at the Council's meeting in Minsk on April 24, the politician's campaign manager, Sergei Kalyakin, said the team succeeded in rallying support for and promoting the opposition candidate. Aleksandr Milinkevich saw his support rise from 1.5 to 20 percent and his name recognition to 85 percent in independent opinion polls within four months of his campaign that involved more than 5,000 activists.
The team distributed more than 6 million leaflets and more than 800,000 copies of the pro-opposition newspapers Narodnaya Volya and Tovarishch.
Mr. Kalyakin emphasized international success of the campaign. He criticized the performance of the former candidate's "creative" and press groups. On top of that, he said that all projects to mobilize people for protests had been nothing but "fiction." "Nobody was doing real work, although resources had been provided for the purpose," he said.
He politician also pointed out "weak crisis planning," in particular failure by the camp to come up with several scenarios for mass demonstrations.
Mr. Milinkevich called on the Political Council to concentrate on forming a freedom movement and on promoting positive changes associated with the ouster of Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Mr. Milinkevich is expected to unveil the movement's platform during Wednesday's opposition rally marking the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039577/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039577/ BelaPAN Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:22:00 +0300 According to the survey of 1,496 eligible voters conducted in late March and early April, the incumbent Belarusian leader gained 63.6 percent of the vote in the March 14-19 election, while his main opposition rival, Aleksandr Milinkevich, garnered 20.6 percent. As many as 4.8 percent of the interviewed said they had cast their ballots for another opposition candidate, Aleksandr Kozulin, and 2.1 percent backed Sergei Gaidukevich, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
The findings sharply contrast with the official results of the vote that gave Mr. Lukashenko a resounding win with 83 percent, only 6.1 percent to Mr. Milinkevich, 2.2 percent to Dr. Kozulin and 3.5 percent to Mr. Gaidukevich.
Talking to reporters in the British embassy in Minsk on Thursday, sociologist Oleg Manayev, who supervised the survey, said that the poll had found voter turnout in the election to be 90 percent, nearly the same as the rate reported by the central election commission.
At the same time, less than 17 percent of those who cast ballots at the early voting stage said they had done this under compulsion, a finding that contradicts the opposition's allegations that an overwhelming majority of early voters had been forced to come to the polls before the main polling day.
Dr. Manayev stressed that it is the activities of the Belarusian authorities rather than the opposition or some external forces that contribute to a growing discontent in society, as the proportion of Belarusians disgruntled by governmental agencies soared to 36.5 percent last year.
"Certainly, there's a social basis for changes, but Belarusian society's readiness for changes should be neither underestimated as done by the government, nor overestimated, which the opposition does," the expert concluded.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039560/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039560/ BelaPAN Fri, 21 Apr 2006 02:37:37 +0300 However, the team cast a critical eye on logistical support of Mr. Milinkevich's campaign, spokesman Sergei Voznyak told BelaPAN.
Mr. Milinkevich said at the meeting that the united pro-democratic forces would continue working to achieve their main goal of changing the government in Belarus.
Sergei Kalyakin, leader of the Belarusian Party of Communists who was campaign manager for Mr. Milinkevich, said that the team was set to establish the officials who were involved in the persecution of opposition activists and render assistance to the victims of the persecution. Another short-term objective is to provide the Belarusians with objective information about March's opposition protests against the reelection of Aleksandr Lukashenko.
The team expressed its gratitude to all those who had taken part in the protests and appealed to the Political Council of the United Pro-democratic Forces for granting it the status of an executive body.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039507/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039507/ BelaPAN Mon, 17 Apr 2006 11:48:42 +0300 Thirty-six percent of those interviewed on April 8 and 9 were glad of this outcome and seven percent expressed their dissatisfaction, FOM said.
Seventy-one percent of the interviewed knew that the Belarusians had held a presidential election; 18 percent had heard something about that, and 10 percent said that they had never heard of it, the foundation said.
Seventy-three percent reportedly knew that Mr. Lukashenko had been elected, three percent mentioned another name, and 13 percent said that they did not know who had been elected.
Thirty-eight percent of the interviewed agreed with the opinion that the election had been fair and unflawed. Twenty-two percent accepted the contrary point of view, and 40 percent found it difficult to answer.
Forty-seven percent believed that Mr. Lukashenko had really gained the vote percentage that the central election commission announced. Twenty-three percent believed that he had actually gotten fewer votes and 30 percent failed to give a definite reply.
Thirty-four percent were aware of the dispersal of an opposition demonstration in Minsk on March 25, 32 percent had heard something about that, and 30 percent said that they had never heard of it. Nineteen percent approved the dispersal, the same percentage condemned it, and the same percentage said that they did not care.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039496/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0039496/ BelaPAN Sun, 16 Apr 2006 11:20:46 +0300 "The hunger strike is a protest against violence that authorities used against Belarusian citizens on March 25 in Minsk and also against the so-called elections. The person declared the winner was not eligible to run in that election," Mr. Kulik told BelaPAN.
He said he would continue the hunger strike for two weeks. He works for a private company in Novopolotsk.
"To my regret I was not lucky to join those who took to the streets in Minsk after March 19 and March 25, although I fully support their actions. My hunger strike is a way to show that non-violent resistance to violence continues. I would like the public to know about it," he said.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038857/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038857/ BelaPAN Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:40:43 +0300 In particular, the former presidential candidate has appealed the refusal by the commission and the court to invalidate the official results of the vote, according to the politician's press office.
Dr. Kozulin, ex-rector of Belarusian State University, originally challenged the vote outcome in the central election commission but the latter rejected his complaint. The politician then took the case to the Supreme Court but Judge Nikolai Bobkov ruled that the central election commission's decision was not subject to consideration by the court.
The politician, currently held in custody on criminal charges, has sent copies of the complaint to the mission observing Belarus' presidential election of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and foreign embassies in Minsk.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038777/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038777/ BelaPAN Mon, 10 Apr 2006 04:36:24 +0300 The two leaders discussed "certain aspects" of bilateral relations.
Mr. Lukashenko took the oath of office on the same day. Later in the day the Council of Ministers announced its resignation. Under the Constitution, Mr. Lukashenko is to appoint a new prime minister and ministers.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038761/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038761/ BelaPAN Sat, 08 Apr 2006 10:14:40 +0300 The central election commission said that Mr. Lukashenko won the March 19 presidential election with a tally of 83 percent to 6 percent to his closest rival - liberal Aleksandr Milinkevich.
Speaking at a pomp-filled ceremony, Mr. Lukashenko said the election demonstrated to the entire world "the unity of authorities and the people."
He said that the country will not give up the course it has been following for 10 years and pledged to root out red tape, support public initiatives, raise wages and pensions in the next five years, improve health services and life quality in the rural areas, and guarantee security.
"There are those who wish to humiliate our country, the island of stability, and turn it into a new test ground for color disturbances. Certain countries are trying to export foreign technologies of destruction, total chaos, poverty and spiritual degradation to our country under the guise of alleged democratic values. Regretfully, our neighbors, EU rookies, lead this crusade against our country," he said.
Mr. Lukashenko added that Belarus has a strong immunity against revolutions, stressing that both authorities and common people do not want "destructive changes."
In apparent reference to defeated opposition candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich, he said that one cannot win respect of the people by traveling all over the world and denigrating his country.
The Belarusian leader changed his suit for the commander-in-chief's uniform to hear an oath of allegiance that Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev read in front of several thousand troops, security and emergency relief officers.
Gannady Novitsky, chairman of the upper chamber of the National Assembly, and Grigory Vasilevich, chairman of the Constitutional Court, congratulated Mr. Lukashenko on his victory, while Patriarchal Exarch Filaret, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus, wished him resolve and courage.
The ceremony was followed by a pop concert.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038757/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038757/ BelaPAN Sat, 08 Apr 2006 09:58:25 +0300 According to the Court, its decision is final and cannot be appealed.
The petition was filed by the National Club of Voters and the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada" (BSDP). They contested the central election commission's decision to declare the election legitimate.
Vladimir Gudeyev, chairman of the National Club of Voters, and BSDP First Deputy Chairman Anatoly Levkovich filed a complaint about the vote with the central election commission on March 20, but it was rejected three days later, when the final official election results were announced. They denounced the election authorities' decision as ungrounded and unlawful and appealed to the Supreme Court.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court rejected similar appeals by two former candidates Aleksandr Kozulin and Aleksandr Milinkevich, also citing the lack of jurisdiction to consider them.
Oleg Volchek, a legal expert with Dr. Kozulin's team, described the decision as absurd and unlawful. It shows once again that the Belarusian authorities do not care whether or not the international community will recognize the election as legitimate, he told BelaPAN.
"In our complaint, we specified the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Code, on the basis of which we demanded that the Supreme Court should consider it. We also attached evidence of irregularities and frauds. I believe it is a farce. The chairman of the Supreme Court intentionally shies away from a decision in order not to bear the responsibility for declaring the election illegitimate," he said.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038727/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038727/ BelaPAN Fri, 07 Apr 2006 15:21:34 +0300 In a statement released on April 6 the SPS criticizes Mr. Putin for his backing of the Lukashenko regime. "Over the last few years our country has been subsidizing the Belarusian economy, helping the Lukashenko regime to survive," the statement says. "After the election, which has not been recognized by a single democratic country, you congratulated Lukashenko, having recognized him as actual and legitimate leader of the Republic of Belarus."
The party calls on the Russian president to revise his policies toward "dictators."
SPS activists plan to demonstrate outside the Belarusian embassy in Moscow on April 8 to protest Mr. Lukashenko's inauguration and what the party calls fraudulent presidential election in Belarus.
SPS demonstrators intend to express their support for Russian journalists Oleg Kozlovsky, an SPS member, and Eduard Glezin who were arrested during an opposition protest in Minsk and jailed for 15 days.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038667/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038667/ BelaPAN Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:49:52 +0300 The live broadcast begins at 2.45p.m. on April 8.
The BSTRC will operate five cameras to film the presidential cavalcade.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038666/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038666/ BelaPAN Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:29:32 +0300 Independence Avenue (formerly Francisak Skaryna Avenue) from Lenin Street to Yanka Kupala Street will be off-limits to traffic between 2 p.m. and 4:45 p.m., said the Minsk city road police's Propaganda Department.
A stretch of Pobeditelei Avenue (formerly Masherova Avenue) will be closed to traffic between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. It will open for an hour and then will be shut down again until 4:45 p.m.
The Minsk city road police have urged drivers to use other routes on April 8 to access the areas they usually get to from the avenues.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038650/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038650/ BelaPAN Thu, 06 Apr 2006 18:04:17 +0300 The EP said that Aleksandr Lukashenko "cannot be recognized" as a legitimate president of Belarus. It noted that the Belarusian leader had secured his third term of office through a referendum that was not recognized by the international community. The EP cited a climate of fear during the presidential race, the harassment of campaign activists, the suppression of the independent media and "serious allegations" that "massive fraud took place in the counting of votes."
MEPs met the announcement of the results of the vote on the resolution with noisy applause, Bogdan Klich, chairman of the Delegation for Relations with Belarus, told BelaPAN. EP President Josep Borrel greeted Belarusian opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich, who was present at the vote, in his address to the gathering.
In the resolution, the EP described Belarus as "the last dictatorship in Europe" and expressed its solidarity with the country's opposition forces and all Belarusians "who strive for an independent, open and democratic Belarus based on the rule of law."
The EP welcomed the protests that had been staged in Minsk against Mr. Lukashenko's reelection and urged the Belarusian authorities to immediately release all jailed opposition activists.
It hailed a new visa ban against Belarusian officials, including Mr. Lukashenko, but called on the European Commission and the Council of Europe to expand the visa ban list and freeze the assets of those on the list.
The EP also called on the European Commission and the Council of Europe to redirect all forms of financial support for Mr. Lukashenko's government to non-governmental organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises; ease visa formalities for common Belarusians; fund educational programs for students expelled from Belarusian universities for political reasons; and "urgently raise the issue of Belarus with the Russian authorities so as to define a common responsibility for bringing about concrete democratic changes in that country, and to stop the political repression and human rights violations."
Both the cross-party and cross-member state nature of the MEPs' appeal shows that Belarus has become a truly international issue in Europe, EUobserver quoted an EU official as saying.
The European Union's Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, reportedly promised that the European Commission would explore ways of relaxing visa formalities for Belarusian travelers by the end of the year.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038645/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038645/ BelaPAN Thu, 06 Apr 2006 16:21:25 +0300 Anastasiya Tsimanovich, spokeswoman for the Supreme Court, said that the appeals by Aleksandr Kozulin and Aleksandr Milinkevich were outside the court's jurisdiction.
She said that candidates could appeal only the central election commission's decisions invalidating election results. Other decisions by the central election commission are not subject to consideration, she added.
Sergei Kalyakin, campaign manager for Mr. Milinkevich dismissed the decision as "one-sided interpretation of the Electoral Code."
"All we can say is that a judiciary based on the separation of powers is dead in Belarus," he stressed.
The central election commission on March 20 declared incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko the overwhelming winner with a tally of 83 percent, saying that the runner-up, Mr. Milinkevich, received just 6.1 percent of the vote. Mr. Lukashenko's two rivals demanded a rerun saying the election was deeply flawed.]]> http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038629/ http://en.belaruselections.info/archive/2006/chronicle/0038629/ BelaPAN Wed, 05 Apr 2006 21:39:21 +0300